Saturday, October 31, 2015

congaree national park

congaree national park
We drove down to South Carolina to check out Congaree National Park.  Established in 2003, it's one of the newest national parks.

cypress knees
Congaree has the largest portion of old-growth floodplain left in North America and is home to some of the tallest trees on the east coast.  Water from the Congaree and Wateree Rivers sweeps through the floodplain and nourishes and rejuvenates the ecosystem.

congaree
One of the most interesting things at Congaree is the "knees" surrounding the cypress trees- the purpose of the knees is unknown but scientists have speculated that they provide stability during flooding.

Unfortunately, we didn't stay at Congaree for long.  Fall is supposed to be a wonderful time to go because of the lower temperatures and humidity and lack of mosquitos but the torrential rains we had in September/early October caused massive flooding at the park.  The flooding brought back the mosquitos and the Mosquito Meter was at a 6: War Zone (the highest level).  We were all wearing bug spray and I still managed to get about twenty mosquito bites!  We'll definitely be back again to spend more time exploring the park but we'll check the mosquito forecast first.

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